For N.Y. pilot, a banner career in the flag business

When Steve Sevits started Uneeda Wholesale in 1975, he figured he’d make a few bucks selling American flags for the country’s bicentennial.

Soon, though, the venture “became a full-time endeavor,” the central-New York State businessman said. By the early 1980s, he had earned enough from the flag business to pay off his house. When Sevits sold the company in 1997, he’d made what he called a “substantial” profit.

The company’s success resulted in no small part, Sevits said, because of general aviation—the reach of his Piper Tri-Pacer PA 22-150, specifically. Between 40 percent and 50 percent of sales were directly attributable to his air travel, which, Sevits said, he concentrated into six travel days a month.

The company eventually sold American flags in 17 sizes and four materials; flags of 154 other countries; and custom banners for companies, government agencies, embassies, and nonprofit organizations. Once, an African diplomat asked whether Sevits sold flags in metric sizes. He did. The diplomat told Sevits that it was the only company that could accommodate such a request, and he became a steady customer for many years.

Memorable sales also included banners for the Basketball Hall of Fame’s induction ceremony, the National Park Service, and the New York State Historical Association.

“Without GA, we couldn’t have done it,” Sevits said of the company’s growth. “The reach of a GA aircraft bears a direct responsibility for our company’s becoming one of the largest flag and banner vendors in the northeast during 22 years in the late 1970s, ’80s and into the 1990s.”

From his office near Albany, Sevits flew to see clients as far afield as western New York and neighboring states. He preferred to be the sole point of contact with customers, but knew the limitations of automobile travel in such a large region. By car, Sevits estimated, he could service only a 60-mile radius.

By contrast, “a light plane inexpensively extended the reach of the flag business several times that distance,” he said.

“With an airplane, I could hit a client in Buffalo, one in Pennsylvania, another in New York, and still be home by dinner.

“I’d make four sales calls in different places in one day, whereas I’d make one a day in a car. With an airplane, the client would send someone to the airstrip to pick me up. [Flying], I could do as much as three people could. And, of course, I was the decision maker and could cut a deal on the spot.…

“Employing an airplane allowed me to conduct face-to-face meetings with people from commercial companies, fire departments, and municipalities hundreds of miles distant from my home base, and often quite distant from each other.”

Flying the Piper provided far greater speed and flexibility than going commercial, because it “allowed me to land at many airports not served by air carriers,” Sevits said.

“The airplane allowed me to operate on my own schedule, often meeting with customers, including representatives of municipalities, often great distances from each other.”

Sevits spoke lovingly of the airplane he has owned for 38 years. He told of its fabric days and of how he and his wife converted it to metal and repainted it red and white. The airplane retains the name Character, after the New York City corset company from which Sevits purchased it. Besides its business advantages, Character served him well on the personal side.

“I used it as a powerful tool when I courted the lady I would marry. There was no one else she was dating who had a plane. It gave me a little bit of an edge. And it gave me an edge with her father, who’d done some flying,” Sevits said.

“I’ve had a lot of fun with the airplane, and the airplane did me right. That airplane and I got along real well. I know it’s a machine, but I love it, and it loves me. Sometimes, in mixed company, my wife refers to it as my mistress!”— By Hillel Kuttler